No clowning about: 'Pangkor Pele'
His tanned skin and nifty footwork on the soccer pitch had earned him the nickname 'Pangkor Pele' or so say his aides. But Zambry Abd Kadir is now facing the toughest match of his career.
His tanned skin and nifty footwork on the soccer pitch had earned him the nickname 'Pangkor Pele' or so say his aides. But Zambry Abd Kadir is now facing the toughest match of his career.
The islander has the unenviable task of managing a state, where a large number of its inhabitants are crying foul over the sharp tackle by Barisan Nasional which sent the previous state government limping out of power.
Zambry is waging a difficult battle to stamp his legitimacy as menteri besar and win the hearts and minds of the people.
While the odds are in favour of BN as far as the legal battles on the issue are concerned, the new state government however appears to have been defeated in the court of public opinion.
To make matters worse, the ruling coalition suffered a crushing defeat in the April 7 by-election which was touted as a referendum on BN's political coup. And to rub salt into the wound, the victor was none other than the ousted menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin himself.
It is clear that Zambry is playing on an uneven field and therefore 'Pangkor Pele' must dig deep into his bag of tricks to score a winner.
Malaysiakini met the newly minted menteri besar at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur recently to better understand his game plan and grill him on the political imbroglio.
In the first of a three-part series, Zambry among others talks about the coming state assembly sitting on May 7.
There will be no chair fights
The 47-year-old politician pledged that Barisan Nasional will follow the necessary decorum at the state assembly sitting and will not be involved in any seat-grabbing antics.
"I don't know about the other side. I hope all of us will follow the decorum as far as the assembly is concerned.
"We have a certain procedure that we have to follow. I hope we will not get into a circus, or any form of commotion because we are all civilised people," he added.
Zambry also said that he will not be involved in a chair-fight with his predecessor Mohd Nizar.
Previously, Mohd Nizar had said that he would fight for his right to sit on the official menteri besar’s chair in the House.
Despite being repeatedly pressed on whether if he would call for the removal of Speaker V Sivakumar, Zambry refused to comment on the matter.
"What happens next (at the sitting)? You will just have to wait and see. I don’t want to speculate or anticipate anything but I pray that everybody will keep a certain composure. That is very important," he said while flashing his ever-present smile.
However, the menteri besar said he would not call for a vote of confidence on his leadership.
"People have been writing in papers and blogs that I must get confirmation from the assembly but actually the practice is not that. Perhaps you can ask the previous MB (Mohd Nizar) if he got such an endorsement or not," he added.
Zambry stressed that he did not want to waste time politicking and wanted to solve the political impasse in the state as soon as possible.
That is why, he said, the May 7 assembly sitting was important.
Consent sought before court ruling
Zambry also threw a surprise by stating that he had obtained the Sultan of Perak’s consent for the assembly sitting even before the Federal Court ruled in his favour to revoke his suspension by Sivakumar.
The Federal Court ruled on the lifting of the suspension on April 16. And by April 17 the new date for the sitting was announced.
According to Zambry, the sultan's approval was sought about a week before that.
Asked if he was so confident of the court ruling in his favour that he had sought the ruler's consent even before the verdict was announced, he replied:
"Well you have to because being a responsible government, we have to tell the Tuanku (to call for a sitting)… the constitution clearly states that you have to call for the sitting regardless of any outcome (of the court case)."
Zambry also explained why it was unnecessary to let the people of Perak to determine through the ballot boxes on who was the legitimate menteri besar.
He said that the sultan made the ultimate decision on who should form the state government, adding that BN should now be given the 'floor test period' to show that it can govern just as how the Pakatan Rakyat government was given until it lost its majority in the house.
Q&A: It's like a children's story
THE ZAMBRY INTERVIEW
Part 1
No clowning about: 'Pangkor Pele'
Q&A: It's like a children's story
Part 2
Zambry: Lessons from Bukit Gantang
Part 3
'We need to go back to the people'
